1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in listing apparatus and, more particularly, to an improved grocery listing device including a sliding punch engaged in a slotted coverplate of the device for conveniently creating a list of desired grocery items.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been many attempts to improve a shopper's ability to easily compile and provide readily accessible grocery lists. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,392,488, issued to J. Maccallum, Jr., entitled "LISTING MACHINE", discloses a listing machine for providing lists from a paper feed roll. The listing machine includes punching devices bracketed at the side edges of the machine for forming cutouts adjacent to side edges of the paper roll indicating desired items to be listed.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 2,174,088, issued to H. K. Jensen, entitled "LISTING APPARATUS", discloses another listing apparatus which forms perforations adjacent to side edges of a list. With the Jensen device a series of punches are aligned along the edges of the listing apparatus.
U.S Pat. No. 2,460,549, issued to E. Stiles, entitled "DEVICE FOR RECORDING GROCERY WANT-LISTS", discloses a device having a vertically disposed slot for accommodating a block-like runner. Affixed to the runner are puncturing recorder tips for perforating a listing sheet. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,554, issued to E. E. La Tuertte, entitled "PORTABLE PUNCH", discloses another punching device with a vertically disposed slot for supporting a punching mechanism.
Other examples of punching devices shown in the prior art include U.S. Pat. No. 2,868,293, issued to M. S. Kearse, entitled "POCKET CALENDAR DEVICE WITH PUNCH MEANS"; U.S. Pat. No. 1,839,415, issued to D. F. Schumacher, entitled "HAND PUNCH" which discloses a punching device for perforating record cards; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,019, issued to D. J. Byrnes, Jr., entitled "VOTING MECHANISM".
Most of the prior art suffers from similar deficiencies. The devices are generally of complicated construction, contain many moving parts, are limited in the amount of items that may be listed, and are expensive to fabricate. As will be disclosed below, the present invention provides a solution for these abovementioned deficiencies.